Anomalous excitation enhancement with Rydberg-dressed atoms

Abstract

We develop the research achievement of recent work [M. Gärttner, et.al., Phys. Rev. Letts. 113, 233002 (2014)], in which an anomalous excitation enhancement is observed in a three-level Rydberg-atom ensemble with many-body coherence. In our novel theoretical analysis, this effect is ascribed to the existence of a quasi-dark state as well as its avoided crossings to nearby Rydberg-dressed states. Moreover, we show that with an appropriate control of the optical detuning to the intermediate state, the enhancement can evoke a direct facilitation to atom-light coupling that even breaks through the conventional $\sqrt{N}$ limit of strong-blockaded ensembles. As a consequence, the intensity of the probe laser for intermediate transition can be reduced considerably, increasing the feasibility of experiments with Rydberg-dressed atoms.

8 pages, 6 figures, PRA in press

References in corpus (12)

• Observation of mesoscopic crystalline structures in a two-dimensional Rydberg gas
• Cooperative atom-light interaction in a blockaded Rydberg ensemble
• Evidence for coherent collective Rydberg excitation in the strong blockade regime
• Dynamical crystallization in a low-dimensional Rydberg gas
• Designing Frustrated Quantum Magnets with Laser-Dressed Rydberg Atoms
• Observation and measurement of "giant" dispersive optical non-linearities in an ensemble of cold Rydberg atoms
• Electromagnetically induced transparency of an interacting cold Rydberg ensemble
• Creation and transfer of non-classical states of motion using Rydberg dressing of atoms in a lattice
• Collective excitation of Rydberg-atom ensembles beyond the $\sqrt{N}$ enhancement
• Controlling ultracold chemical reactions via Rydberg-dressed interactions
• Anomalous excitation facilitation in inhomogeneously broadened Rydberg gases
• Resonance-enhanced collective effect in a triangle arrangement of Rydberg atoms with anisotropic interactions